As a retail store owner, one of the biggest ways that you can make a difference to the customer experience is in the way you design your store layout.

A great store layout design can also increase the impact your products have on your customer, boosting sales and driving foot traffic into your store.

Before you set up your store or enter into a new design, consider these questions.

5 Questions to Ask For an Effective Store Layout

1. What is your floor plan?

The space that you have determines what you’ve got to work with, so understand the type of floor plan that you have and then go from there. There are 4 types of floor plans, and each one has it’s own benefits – it depends on what you are selling and the types of customer you attract.

The 4 types of floor plans are:

Geometric floor plan – this type of floor plan uses racks and fixtures, creating a unique feel. This type of layout is ideal if you are planning to showcase trendy products

Straight floor plan – this is the simplest type of floor plan and entails positioning your shelves and racks in straight lines for organised flow. It’s also the most economical floor layout and is utilised mostly by large retail spaces, such as supermarkets.

Angular floor plan – this type of layout has a lot of curves and angles, giving off a sophisticated vibe. This type of floor plan is usually found in high-end retailers and is the smallest of the floor plans.

Diagonal floor plan – this type of plan will provide you with more visibility, both from a staff and customer perspective and is best utilised in smaller spaces. Self-service shops or stores where close monitoring of customers is required.

2. Do you lead customers to the left or right?

What are we talking about here? Whether you lead your customer clockwise or anti-clockwise – and does it actually make a difference?

Generally, shoppers will go in the direction they drive, so as we are based in Australia, most shoppers will enter the store and browse in a clockwise direction. Once you know which direction, make sure you place any new arrival items and specials in strategic places following this direction.

3. Can you appeal to people’s other senses?

The more you can do to make your store enticing, the more success you’ll have at attracting foot traffic and converting sales. Depending on what you sell, how can you appear to the other senses that you aren’t already hitting?

Here’s some ideas:

Use sound – choose your music carefully. Decide on the atmosphere you are looking to create and choose songs that will enhance this.

Use scent – if you’re selling furniture, coffee is a great scent to have in your store. Alternatively, if you’re selling clothing, match the scent to the type of clothing your selling to entice shoppers senses further.

Use touch – the best way to do this is to have samples of each product available for customers to touch – everyone likes to touch things and by doing this, you are encouraging them to interact with your product.

Use taste – this really only works if you’re selling food products. Offer free taste testing stations throughout your store. This encourages the shopper to interact both with your product and with your staff.

4. How do you determine if you’re making the correct layout decisions?

Simply ask. Ask your staff what they think of any changes your planning to make. Also take note of what your shoppers do when they enter they store, do they linger in certain spots, do they touch your products or do they move through quickly. You can also ask your customers directly what they think and record their answers. This will give you a very clear picture of what changes need to be implemented.

5. How should staff behave?

This can sometimes be a forgotten aspect of store layout – where your staff are positioned. Depending on what layout you go with, having employees standing in once place might not be the best option. Generally, it’s better to have your sales staff move around the floor rather than standing behind the counter; it makes the store more inviting. Apply the “act as if they were customers” philosophy as well, whereby staff act as if they are customers by moving around the store and touching the products. People are more inclined to enter a store that doesn’t appear empty.

Now that you have the questions and the answers, you can apply these to your store layout and come up with an effective and functional design.

As many companies know, a mobile strategy is key to having ongoing success in getting in front of their target market. But what a lot of businesses don’t seem to understand, is that it’s not just about having a mobile strategy in place, it’s more about what type of mobile strategy you actually use to get to your market.

In a recent article, Phil Komany, CEO of USA, Roberts and Pencils, talked about how your mobile strategy should be based around empathy. No longer are we chained to our desks, we can get up and move about and still have access to everything that we need to do our work, stay in touch with friends and keep up with what the family is doing.

Mobile and Business

So how does this relate to business? It is all about how well you leverage mobile technology to ensure that your business is being accessed across these mobile devices, at any time of the day or night.

What is a little scary however, is just how many businesses are out there who are not taking advantage of mobile. 31 percent of businesses surveyed in 2013 admitted to not having a mobile strategy in place. Let’s hope you’re not one of them! But if you are, here’s what you need to focus on.

Empathy For The End User

Your mobile strategy should focus on empathy. Empathy for the end user’s experience with accessing your businesses mobile advertising. This should be how your measure how successful your mobile strategy is – by how well the end user finds accessing the app or your mobile website to be easy and rewarding.

If you miss the boat on this, then you end up missing customers and dollars.

Mobile Strategy – What to Include

Identify the points of where your mobile strategy will directly impact the end user in a positive way. Focus on pain points of your target audience and how you can fix them via your mobile strategy.

Decide whether you will create or buy the mobile solution you are going to use to deliver your mobile strategy. There is no right or wrong answer here. You just have to determine which option will work best for your business and the end user. Shoot for a solution that still allows you to interact with your end users and you’ve got a winner.

Continue to assess the solution and strategies that you have in place. It’s not enough to understand your users, you need to stay in tune with them. Use metrics to track user engagement to stay in tune with them.

Iterate the process once you’ve figured out what works best and what doesn’t. Your mobile strategy should always be changing to stay in tune with the end user and to stay ahead of your competition.

If you are looking for ways to include mobile technologies into your business, the team at Apps in Business can help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your mobile needs, from iPads to Smartphones and cloud based solutions, we can help implement a solution that meets all your needs.

As many companies know, a mobile strategy is key to having ongoing success in getting in front of their target market. But what a lot of businesses don’t seem to understand, is that it’s not just about having a mobile strategy in place, it’s more about what type of mobile strategy you actually use to get to your market.

In a recent article, Phil Komany, CEO of USA, Roberts and Pencils, talked about how your mobile strategy should be based around empathy. No longer are we chained to our desks, we can get up and move about and still have access to everything that we need to do our work, stay in touch with friends and keep up with what the family is doing.

Mobile and Business

So how does this relate to business? It is all about how well you leverage mobile technology to ensure that your business is being accessed across these mobile devices, at any time of the day or night.

What is a little scary however, is just how many businesses are out there who are not taking advantage of mobile. 31 percent of businesses surveyed in 2013 admitted to not having a mobile strategy in place. Let’s hope you’re not one of them! But if you are, here’s what you need to focus on.

Empathy For The End User

Your mobile strategy should focus on empathy. Empathy for the end user’s experience with accessing your businesses mobile advertising. This should be how your measure how successful your mobile strategy is – by how well the end user finds accessing the app or your mobile website to be easy and rewarding.

If you miss the boat on this, then you end up missing customers and dollars.

Mobile Strategy – What to Include

Identify the points of where your mobile strategy will directly impact the end user in a positive way. Focus on pain points of your target audience and how you can fix them via your mobile strategy.

Decide whether you will create or buy the mobile solution you are going to use to deliver your mobile strategy. There is no right or wrong answer here. You just have to determine which option will work best for your business and the end user. Shoot for a solution that still allows you to interact with your end users and you’ve got a winner.

Continue to assess the solution and strategies that you have in place. It’s not enough to understand your users, you need to stay in tune with them. Use metrics to track user engagement to stay in tune with them.

Iterate the process once you’ve figured out what works best and what doesn’t. Your mobile strategy should always be changing to stay in tune with the end user and to stay ahead of your competition.

If you are looking for ways to include mobile technologies into your business, the team at Apps in Business can help. Get in touch with us today to discuss your mobile needs, from iPads to Smartphones and cloud based solutions, we can help implement a solution that meets all your needs.

If you’re in business, you need to ensure that you make your business more mobile. Businesses need to approach strategies with a mobile consciousness – being aware that customers are demanding immediate access to products and services at the touch of a button.

As a small business owner, it is now more imperative that your business is accessible from all mobile devices as well as having the ability to actually be mobile.

Here’s a few stats from the US marketplace that might make you sit up and take notice if you haven’t updated your website or business since 2005:

So, are you sitting up and taking notice yet? Mobile and mobile technology is the future of the business world – if you want to stay relevant and accessible to your customers, you need to figure out a way to get mobile!

How to Get Mobile

Use smart technology – this means investing in smartphones or tablets for your sales team, at least. If you are a tradesperson, having a smartphone that allows you to access your job allocations and invoicing system is a great way to stay connected and minimise administration nightmares.

Head to the clouds – utilise cloud-based systems and programs to ensure that you are not office-bound all the time. This is particularly useful for pop-up retail stores and restaurant owners looking to expand – cloud-based POS systems and accounting software allows you to access your business from any device, in any location – you just need internet access.

Utilise apps – if you’re planning to use smart devices (and you should be) then using the right apps is key to ensuring that going mobile is easy and painless. Apps like Xero and Vend can make a huge difference in the way you do business.

Update your website – not only do you need to be mobile, but so does your website. How many of your customers are accessing your website from their smartphone or tablets? If you looked at the infographic above, you’d know that 44% of Australians do a local search daily and 80% of those searchers reach out to a local business after that mobile search. Is that enough to make you think about getting that website updated yet?!

Tailored options – utilising a service that can create a package that meets your businesses specific requirements, whether that’s smart device technology implementation, cloud-based program setup or mobile payment devices – a company like Apps in Business can create something that meets your specific needs.

Going mobile is far more easier than it used to be and the costs are significantly less than they were too. Contact the team at Apps in Business today to discuss how they can get your business mobile today.

Mobile App Features That You Should Consider For Your Business

Mobile devices have become part of our day-to-day life, with millions of users taking these important devices with them everywhere they go. Incorporating mobile technology into your business has become important for business success, with different mobile apps being designed to allow businesses to keep in touch with their customers on a daily basis.

With all kinds of apps being developed every day, it’s increasingly difficult for business owners to select the right mobile app for their business.

The following guide will offer insight on some of the features that businesses should consider when selecting any mobile app for their business.

Relevancy

Any mobile app should be relevant to the customer experience and add value to the over all business in some way. This simply means that a business owner should carefully select all apps and ensure that they offer a rich customer experience. Anything less that this might be counterproductive and end up hurting your business instead of improving it.

Compatibility With Social Media

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today. It also allows customers to communicate with business owners. The mobile app should therefore be compatible with social media to ensure that business owners fully exploit this platform by allowing customers to share content and connect directly with businesses in a meaningful way.

Easy to Use

The mobile app should be easy to use. Access requirements should be brief and ensure that the customer does not have to spend too much of their time and energy trying to get into the mobile app. Keep it simple.

Flexibility

A good mobile app should be flexible and allow users to customise them in terms of font, colour and settings. They should also be available across multiple devices and platforms.

Allow Users to Give Feedback

A mobile app should present an opportunity for users to give feedback. This is not only important for growth but it also shows users that they are appreciated and their opinions valued.

Data Analytics

A good mobile app should not only track the users activities but should also be in a position to analyse the data with the help of an analytic system.

This ensures that a business owner is able to understand the users’ needs through their actions and is therefore in a position to take appropriate steps to ensure user satisfaction.

These are some of the most important mobile app features that business owners should consider to ensure that they employ apps that allow them to connect with their customers. This will ensure that the services delivered to these customers are up to standard for the overall good of the business and customer retention strategies.

Here’s a look back at some of the top stories around Apps for Business this week – particularly focused on utilising apps in retail around cloud accounting and cloud based point of sale systems, with a few productivity and other business helpful apps thrown in for good measure!

[callout title=”From the Vend Blog” button=”Read More” link=”http://blog.vendhq.com/post/64901824240/retail-success-round” buttoncolor=”blue” target=”_self”]”In retail it pays to talk to other retailers, to share information and tips + tricks to succeed, because often there is an easier way, if only you’d known.

To help share hard-won knowledge, we spoke to a range of fashion retailers that use Vend to find out how they succeed in retail.”[/callout]

[callout title=”ClamCase for iPad Mini” button=”Read More” link=”http://the-gadgeteer.com/2014/01/16/now-theres-a-clamcase-for-the-ipad-mini/” buttoncolor=”blue” target=”_self”]For anyone looking to utilise an iPad Mini in their retail store, this ClamCase is a great option, including a bluetooth keyboard, which allows you to type away from any point around your retail shop.[/callout]

[callout title=”New Mail Client for Macs” button=”Read More” link=”http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/01/mail-pilot-for-mac-wants-to-transform-your-emails-into-a-to-do-list” buttoncolor=”blue” target=”_self”]”The folks at Mindsense LLC have released the first official version of the company’s new Mac product. First announced last June, Mail Pilot for Mac is available now in the Mac App Store.”[/callout]

[callout title=”Retail Game Coffee Shop” button=”Read More” link=”http://appadvice.com/appnn/2014/01/be-the-best-barista-of-them-all-in-jos-dream-coffee-shop-for-ios” buttoncolor=”blue” target=”_self”]Do you know your espresso from your macchiato, cappuccino, and latte? If so, a new time management iOS app called Jo’s Dream: Coffee Shop could be of interest. In the game, iDevice users are charged with the task of turning a “humble café into a fancy gourmet coffee shop,” according to developer Melesta.”[/callout]

If you’d like to take a look at some options for your own business, contact the Apps in Business team today to discuss your needs – we tailor packages to suit your requirements, so there is nothing we can’t sort for you!

Turning digital is the way to go in any retail business, as it makes working easier from any location and makes all operations more efficient. The good news is, you don’t need to purchase expensive gadgets that will take a lot of time and training to learn to achieve this. You can use an iPad to bring in required technological changes to take your retail store to the next level.

Here’s How You Can Use an iPad in Your Retail Store:

1. Use your iPad to keep your business connected via Cloud solutions

This works great, especially if you have integrated sales and payments into your system. If you have an online store, staying connected through your iPad will mean that you never miss an order and all your business transactions are completed seamlessly, with real-time reporting available as well. You’ll be able to manage your store anywhere you are in the world, not to mention the fact that you will be doing this from a simple handheld device that you can use to keep in touch with your customers as well.

2. Download business Apps on your iPad

There are hundreds of Apps coming out every day. Some of these Apps are designed to make running businesses easier, making it easier to track data, complete business transactions and complete accounting procedures, even for people who are not trained as business managers. Downloading these Apps on your iPad and using them to run your business will mean that you will be running your store efficiently without having to spend long hours working, or being forced to hire multitudes of people to carry out routine store transactions. You will also eliminate some of the human errors that occur, costing the business a lot in terms of money and reduced customer satisfaction.

3. Integrate your point of sale into your iPad

It’s now possible to run your whole business operations, from the cash drawer to the printer, from your iPad. You will have to hire a professional who will integrate the system for you and also train you on how the system works, but this won’t take more than 24 hours to implement, in most cases. The money and time you save will be huge and you will always be up to date with everything that is going on in your retail store.

If you are a retail store and are looking to increase productivity and accessibility, look at moving your business systems into the cloud by utilising Apps in Business and our partners to create a retail system that will meet your immediate needs today.